Reeling device



Nov. 8, 1938.

H. c. RALs'roNv ET- AL REELING DEIGE Filed Dec. 7, 1936 Patentecl Nov.8, 1938' UNITED sTA'rEs aisasis nEaLmG nEvlcE Harley O. Ralston,

liams, Garfleld Heights, Cleveland, Ohio, assignors Cleveland, Thomas D.wiiand Frank Mako,

to The American 1 Steel and Wire Company of New Jersey, a corporation ofNew Jersey Application December 7, 1936, Serial No. 114,680

3 Claims. v (Cl. 242-78) This invention relates to reeling devices, and,

more particularly, to reeling devices adapted for association with hotrod mills and the like.

In the metallurgical industry, in the manu- 5 facture of attenuatedmetal stock, and, especially,

rods and other elongated cylindricalobjects, it

is'customary to introduce billets of metal, which have been heated tothe proper temperature, to

rollin-g mills for the purpose of elongating them and reducing thediameters thereof. In the case of rod mills, when a billet is reducedthrough a series of stands of rolls, the rod, as it emerges from thelast pair of rollsI 'is of considerable length and travels atconslderable speed, x-and it is necessary to provide some reelingmean'sto coli the same.

To this end, driven reels are positioned some distance from the lastpair of rolls in the rolltrain invline with the axis of the passesthereof to which the biliet is introduced. Such reels are 'customarilysynchronized in speed with the last pair of rolls so as to exert uponthe hot stock no pulling tension, except as is hereinafter stated. Suchreels usually `comprise a revoluble Abase member upon which two sets ofpins, or coiiforming members, are positioned in circular formationsconcentrically about the axis of rotation of such base member. Aplatform is provided on top of the base member through which theconcentric sets of pins project. The incoming rod is laid between thetwo sets of pins and rests in coil formation upon the platform. The basemember is rotated through la hollow shaft, and carried with it the pins,which, in turn, rotate vision is made for dlscharging it from the reel.

To this' end, the platform is connected to a shaft, which projectsthrough the hollow shaft by which the base member is rotated. This innershaft 40 is connected to any suitable actuting means whereby the.platform may be moved upwardly away from the base member after thereeling operation is completed and the reel is at rest. The movement ofthe platform is such as to bodily lift the coil of rod tola planesubstantially above the uppermost extremitiesv of the coilforming pins,whereby it may be transferred to any suitable conveyor mechanism.

In operation, these conventional types of reels present certainobjectionable features, which result in a considerable loss in material,time, and labor. The principal of these objections lie's in the factthat after the end of the rod leaves the last pair of rolls in remalningbetween the reel and the last pair of rolls must be wound by therotation of the reel, which tends to exert a pulling tension thereuponin the absence of the forwarding assistance furnished by the rollingmili. These free ends of the hot rods, usually amounting to '15 feet orthe platform. After a coil has been wound, prom the vrolling-train, thestock more, are caused by the pull of the reel to become tightly' woundabout the upper extremities of the inner circle of pins thereof. Sincethe circle defined by the upper limits of the pins is usually of lessdlameter than that defined by their base portions to facilitatestrippingthe coil, the rod that is .wound about the top portions thereofis coiled to a dlameter smaller than the convolutions comprising themain body of the coil. When such a coil is stripped, these terminalportions of the rod, coiled to a smaller diameter, fall to the inside ofthe coil. and become tangled with the other convolutions thereof, whichnecessitates that they be removed as scrap.A

It has also been proposed to make a reel on the revoluble base of whichcoil-forming pins are fixedly mounted to lean out'wardly, so that anywire coiled about the upper extremities of' such pins will formconvolutions having a dlameter equal to, or greater than. the meandlameter of the coil of which it is a part. The extremities of the fixedcoil-forming pins, however they may be disposed to form uniformconvolutions of wire, collectively occupy an area commensurate with--'in fact, greater than-that of such convolutions,

and tendtto -bind the latter to the disarrangement and entanglement ofthe coil. It will be appreciated that the incoming rod cannot becontrolled so as to engage the very extremities of the canted pins, and.hence, must first -encounter thema suitable dlstance below suchextremities. At this point, the pins coliectively deflne a smaller areathan that defined by'their extremities. The coil ,is thus wound to alesser dlameter than that of Y"the area defined by the pins' extremitiescollectively. Itl is obvious that, since the larger must pass throughthe smaller in discharging a bundle, disruption of the coil will result.

i The reel of the present invention has been de- `signed to overcome theobiectionable features set forth above, and has for its primary object,the provision of a reel'whereon perfectly uniform ooils of rod may beformed, and wherein the terminal convolutions of said rod areconstrained to conform in size and shape to the convolutions comprisingthe body of the coil.

It is another object hereof to provide a reel which will form uniformcoils of rod throughout, and which will permit of readily dischargingthe coil without sacrificing any portions of the latter, and without'disfiguring any portions thereof. L I

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdescription, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a partial p an and partial plansectional view of a reel ma iin accordance with the present invention; the section having been takenalong line I-I in Flgure 2.

Figure 2 is a mid-sectional elevational view of thedevice illustrated'inFigure 1;

Referring more specifically to' the drawing in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, the numeral designates arevoluble base member, which is secured upon a hollow shaft 2, forrotation thereby. Carried in suitable apertures adjacent the peripheryof the base member is a plurality of pins 3, mounted equidistantly incircular formation concentrically about the axis of rotation thereof.Disposed inwardly of this circle of pins, also' in circular formationabout the axis of rotation, is disposed a plurality of apertures 4extending through the base member, and adjacent which are positionedpivot-bearings 5 integral with the latter.

A plurality of arms 6 are positioned within the apertures 4 between thepivot-bearings 5, and are secured for oscillation therein abouthinge-pins 1. The portions 8 of the arms 6 falling within the apertures4 are provided with oblique bearing faces 9, which engage complementaryfaces upon the innermost walls of the apertures in the base member I, soas to cant the outer extremities of the arms outwardly toward the pins3.

Disposed on top of the base member 3 is a platform IO in which areprovided v aperturesll and |2'for the accommodation of the pins 3 andthe arms 6, respectively. Disposed co-axially within the' hollow shaft2, and extending through the base member I, is a secondshaft |3, whichis secured to the platform III so as to raise the same for purposes tobe described herei'nafter. The

' in'nermost portions of 'the apertures |2 within the platform aresloped to conform to the canteddisposition of the arms 6, and areprovided'with inserts Il of bearing metal, which are normally adapted toengage the latter.

In operation, the lead end of a rod is introduced to the reel, which isthen driven through the hollow drive shaft 2 at a high speed rate,

corresponding to that at which the rod is being' delivered by the lastpair of rolls. The rod is directed to the rotating reel through a usualguide IG, which is disposed to "pour" the incoming rod within theannular space between the pins 3 and the arms 6, so as to form a coil ISupon' the platform IO. At the conclusion of thecoiling operation, therotation of the reel is stopped, and the shaft |3 is actuated through'any suitable mechanism (not shown) to-raise the platform supporting thecoil IG to a position, such as is shown in dotted lines, Figure 2. Asthe platform is lifted upwardly, the apertures |2 cause the arms 6 toretract inwardly away from their normal cantedposition, toward eachother. 'The coil is freed as the arms are caused to assume a positionalso shown in dotted lines, Figure 2. The. coil may then be removed fromthe elevated platform, which thereafter may again be lowered, and theoperation repeated.

It will be seen from the above that the normal disposition of the arms6, when the platform Ill is in lowered position adjacent the base memberI, is such as to coil the rods uniformly throughout their length,including the terminal portionsthereof last to emerge from the rollingmill. By the outwardly-canted disposition of the arms 6, the terminalportions of the rod are woundin convolutions having a diametersubstantially equal to the mean diameter of. the coil, and by their ownweight are caused to drop down into a satisfactory position upon thelatter, All ofthe stock, therefore, that has hitherto been renderedunusable, is preserved and handled so as to req'uire that none of it bescrapped. Furthmore, the inward recession of the arms 6, during thedischarging operation, provides that the coil be cleanly released,precluding disfigurement of the stock, and insuring against binding,tangling, and other complications, in stripping.

The apertures l in the base member I, within which the arms 6 areadapted to oscillate, are intentionally made of considerable size sothat any dirt or other foreign matter, which may collect upon the basemember I during the operation of the reel, can be cleaned-out to insurefree movement of the arms 6 at all times. The bearing plates ll in theplatform apertures |2 are made replaceable, wher'eby the properpositioning and supporting of the arms 6 may at all times be maintained,and wear compensated for. It is also desirable that the hinge-pins 1,and their bearingls in the members 5 and-arms 6, be made of wearresistant material; such as, of bronze bushing material. The latter alsoavoids any possible corrosive-action setting in after the reel isfiushed with water. In this manner, a free pivotal actionl vcept insofaras is necessitated by the prior art,

and by the recitation of the following claims when interpreted in viewthereof.

We claim as our invention:

1. A coiling device comprising a revoluble base member, a platformpositioned adjacent said base member, a plurality of arms pivotallysecured to said base member and extending through said platform, meansto move said platform toward and away from said base member, and meansrendered effective by said movement for oscillating said arms toward andaway from each other.

` 2.' A reeling device comprising a revoluble base members, a platformdisposed above said base member, a plurality of pins rigidly aflixed toone side of said base member and extending substantially perpendicularthereto and, through said platform, a plurality of arms pivotallysecured to said base member and extending through said platform, meansfor moving said platform toward and away from said base member, andmeans rendered effective by'said movement to oscillate said arms towardand away from each other.

3. A reeling device comprising a revoluble base member, a plurality ofpins extending perpendicularly from one vside of said base member inspaced relation around the axis of rotation thereof, a plurality of armspivotally carried uponv the same side of said base member within theenclosure of pins ,"in concentric spaced Zrelation therewith, unitarymaterial-receiving means positioned above said base member about saidpins and arms, maans for moving said material-receiving away from saidbase member 'substantially in an axial direction along said pins, andmeans associated with said last-named means rendered effective by themovement of the latter to move said arms toward each other.

THOMAS D. WILLIAMS. HARLEY C. RALSTON. FRANK MAKO.

